Issue #302 – June 24, 2019
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(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)
NACC
1. Executive Director’s Reflection *
2. A warm welcome to our new Administrative Specialist/Certification, Lisa Sarenac! *
3. Calling for Fall Certification Interviewers *
4. Thank you to those of you who have already given to our 2019 Annual Member Campaign! Please join them! *
5. Vision seeks contributors for topic of pain *
6. Conference issue of Vision is posted! *
7. Final NACC Networking call for June 2019 – All are welcome to participate! *
8. Are you aware of our many Education Institution Members who have joined the NACC? *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
2020 CONFERENCE, Monday, May 11 – Thursday, May 14 in Cleveland, Ohio!
9. Monday, May 11 – Thursday, May 14, 2020, for 2020 Conference! *
10. July 1, 2019, is the deadline for Professional Development Intensives (Pre-Conference Workshops) and Workshop Proposals! *
2019 NATIONAL CONFERENCE, MAY 31 – JUNE 3, 2019
11. Thanks again to all who prayed for the success of the 2019 NACC Conference!
12. Thanks again to all who made our 2019 Joint Conference a success!
13. Thanks again to our Conference Sponsors!
14. 2019 Conference resources can be accessed on the NACC website. *
15. Conference photos requested! *
CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS
16. The next NACC webinar is on July 18 – register now! *
17. Member Request: How many of our acute hospitals use: NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Monthly Stoplight Report and NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Quarterly Stoplight Report?
18. A new resource book for mental health, A Spiritual Path from Darkness to Hope: Devotions for Your Time in Psychiatric Care *
19. Another new resource on the afterlife for end-of-life care! *
20. A free webinar by the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care *
21. NACC Local Events *
22. Healing Tree: a request for prayers *
23. Recent job postings *
1. Executive Director’s Reflection
From yesterday’s Sequence, Lauda Sion, for the Feast of Corpus Christi, the last two stanzas caught my attention: When the sacrament is broken, Doubt not, but believe ’tis spoken, That each sever’d outward token doth the very whole contain. Nought the precious gift divides, Breaking but the sign betides, Jesus still the same abides, still unbroken does remain. It seems so logical, doesn’t it? That the whole is in each part? That in each morsel Jesus is fully present? Isn’t that a core belief? Yet, in this Sequence they seemed to have stressed the point That each sever’d outward token doth the very whole contain.
This had me return to a contemplative practice important to me. Maybe it is for you also. I reflect on the terms hunger and thirst, the conditions that make me long for the last line of the Gospel, Luke 9:17, “they all ate and were satisfied.” At the end of a day, when I ask myself, “What did I thirst for, hunger for, long for?” Can I name it, or was this day marked by what Rahner called the desolate daily-ness of life? What fed me today? What or who was the morsel of Mystery for me today? What or who allowed me to imbibe in a sip of the Sacred? What was, in the words of the Sequence, the “sever’d outward token” in which the very whole contained?
Was it the phone call or e-mail? A knowing glance of a colleague, or the tighter grip of someone from whom we had received no signs of reciprocity? Was it an unexpected affirmation, or just the tone of a goodbye that sounded more real and intentional this time? Was it my own sense of well-being that suddenly surprised me or a new delight not noticed before? Was it a photo on my shelf I really had not looked at for a while, or the brief linger at the window, the ten-second stare at the cardinal in the tree? Was it a deep sigh that felt so good, or a long-awaited exhale after a tense day? What do I notice as the morsel of Mystery or sip of the Sacred, that token that contains the Whole?
I have probably shared this before, maybe it was even on another Corpus Christi Feast. When coming to Communion, the distributor selects one of the hosts and holds it up to me, “The Body of Christ.” Amen to that Morsel and Sip will only be as meaningful as the Amen I am invited each night in the mirror, brushing my teeth, to say, as I had noticed and relished what was given to me that day, each sever’d outward token doth the very whole contain – Corpus Christi.
Blessings,
David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director
2. A warm welcome to our new Administrative Specialist/Certification, Lisa Sarenac!
Please join us in welcoming the newest member of our NACC staff, Lisa Sarenac, who is assuming the responsibilities of Administrative Specialist/Certification. Ramona Zeb, our prior Administrative Specialist/Certification, left us this past week for a new career. We are deeply grateful for the four and one half years Ramona served NACC in this role. Lisa will now work very closely with our NACC Certification Commission, ITE’s, interviewers, and certification applicants to ensure that our NACC Certification process is well supported. She will also work closely with Jeanine Annunziato, who handles all renewal of certification questions and our member ecclesial endorsement process. Welcome, Lisa!
3. Calling for Fall Certification Interviewers
Help Lisa out right away by offering to volunteer to be a Certification Interviewer for the October 19 & 20, 2019 Certification Interviews! Interviews are being held in Rockville Center, NY; Milwaukee, WI; and Burbank, CA. If you live near any of those areas, are a Board Certified Chaplain and are willing and able, we would love to have you volunteer. To volunteer or for more information, please contact Lisa Sarenac, Administrative Specialist for Certification at LisaSarenac@nacc.org or call (414)483-4898 Ext. 304.
You may learn more by participating in the Call being offered on Tuesday, June 25, 2019.
Answering the Call to Certification Interviewing Networking Call
Join Zoom Meeting
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4. Thank you to those of you who have already given to our 2019 Annual Member Campaign! Please join them!
We are deeply grateful to all those who have been able to give so far to our 2019 Annual Campaign. To date, we have received 269 gifts totaling $32,080 compared to 255 gifts totaling $30,367 at this time last year. If you have not yet been able to donate, please consider doing so today or this week! Thank you!
Please note: You can also make your donation online RIGHT NOW by going to the Annual Campaign webpage. Just click here to donate: https://nationalcatholicwiassoc.wliinc32.com/donate
Please give as you can! Blessings!
5. Vision seeks contributors for topic of pain
The September-October Vision will have the theme of pain and our responses to it. We are looking for authors who can write about topics such as spiritual pain; medication and the opioid crisis; palliative care and pain management; chronic pain support groups; requests for assisted suicide; alternative treatments, e.g. acupuncture, reiki, aromatherapy; the placebo effect; and Catholic theology and pain, e.g. “offering it up.” And if our members have further ideas, we are happy to consider those as well. Please send a summary of your article idea to Vision editor David Lewellen, dlewellen@nacc.org. The copy deadline is Aug. 5.
6. Conference issue of Vision is posted!
If you are curious about what you missed at the 2019 NACC conference, or if you want to relive your memories of learning and reconnecting, the conference issue of Vision has just been posted on our website. The coverage includes some items that first appeared on our blog and some that is totally new, including impressions of the conference by guests and first-time visitors and coverage of the closing panel discussion. https://www.nacc.org/vision/july-august-2019/
7. Final NACC Networking call for June 2019 – All are welcome to participate!
Thursday, June 27, 2019 at 12 p.m. CT Palliative Care/Hospice
To sign up, contact Ramune Franitza at rfranitza@nacc.org for more information, questions, comments or concerns. As the time of the call gets closer and you have replied that you will participate, we will forward ZOOM passcodes for a visual connection via internet or, if you prefer, you can still call in via a phone line. Registering for the call, even if you cannot participate, will allow you to receive notes of the conversation and resources shared.
If you’ve had difficulty in joining calls using ZOOM please let Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org) know so that we can address the issue. THANK YOU!
8. Are you aware of our many Education Institution Members who have joined the NACC?
Over the past year, the NACC has invited education institutions that have conferred graduate degrees upon our BCC members to become Education Institution Members. The nature and benefits of this membership can be found at https://www.nacc.org/membership/apply-for-membership/. Fourteen have already joined us! If someone is looking at NACC Certification on our website, he or she will see the graduate program link (https://www.nacc.org/certification/graduate-theological-programs/) where they will find these institutions and the degrees that would qualify them for board certification.
Please encourage the school from which you received your graduate degree to consider becoming a member by giving them links to our website above! They can also contact Ramune Franitza (rfranitza@nacc.org) or David Lichter (dlichter@nacc.org).
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
2020 CONFERENCE, Monday, May 11 – Thursday, May 14 in Cleveland, Ohio!
9. Monday, May 11 – Thursday, May 14, 2020, for 2020 Conference!
Mark your calendars for the Vision 20/20 The Future of Spiritual Care Conference in 2020! This conference will be held Monday, May 11, through Thursday, May 14, 2020, in Cleveland, Ohio. It will be preceded by pre-conference workshops (PDI) and a Conference retreat. Plan to join us!
10. July 1, 2019, is the deadline for Professional Development Intensives (Pre-Conference Workshops) and Workshop Proposals!
The 2020 Conference Education Subcommittee is inviting proposals for Intensives and Workshops. Please go to the Vision 20/20 The Future of Spiritual Care 2020 Conference to access information and application forms for submitting your proposals. Please complete your proposal this week, as the submission deadline is July 1, 2019!
2019 NATIONAL CONFERENCE, MAY 31 – JUNE 3, 2019
11. Thanks again to all who prayed for the success of the 2019 NACC Conference!
We are deeply grateful to the members who were unable to attend this year’s conference at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois, but remembered the participants in prayer. You and your ministry were remembered daily in our liturgies. You were not far from us in spirit.
12. Thanks again to all who made our 2019 Joint Conference a success!
More than 300 participants gathered for our 2019 Conference at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois, and experienced its inspiration, information, and nourishment through plenaries, workshops, liturgies, business meeting, and social gatherings. We extend our special thanks to the Planning Committee, Beth Lenegan (Workshops); Fr. Richard Bartoszek (Liturgies), and representatives of the Raskob Partners in Pastoral Care, Harry Dudley, Carol Walters, Sister Peter Lillian DiMaria, OCarm, Denice Foose, and Deacon Charlie Stump, as well as Bev Beltramo who took on the organization and leadership of the liturgical music. We appreciate so much, as well, the extra dedication of our staff who had many extra responsibilities on site. Finally and most importantly, we are grateful to our attendees for coming and for the sacrifices they made to do so, and for those who participated via live streaming.
13. Thanks again to our Conference Sponsors!
The generous support of our Conference sponsors helped us keep individual member costs down. Their generosity allowed us to charge $80-$100 less per participant. That’s a lot of savings for each of you. Please extend your gratitude to them. Learn who they are at:
https://www.nacc.org/conference/2019-conference-sponsors/
14. 2019 Conference resources can be accessed on the NACC website. *
Whether you participated in the 2019 Conference or not, you can access the support materials and PowerPoints for many of the workshops on our NACC website: https://www.nacc.org/conference/workshop-materials-handouts/.
15. Conference photos requested! *
If you took any photos at the conference that you wish to share with the NACC, please send them to us at info@nacc.org! We’d love to see your best shots of your fellow attendees, conference events, and USML.
CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS
16. The next NACC webinar is on July 18 – register now!
- Thursday, July 18, 2019. Supporting the Spiritual and Emotional Needs of Transgender and Gender Variant Patients in Healthcare Settings, presented by Rev. Claire Bohman, MDiv, and Emiliano Lemus Hufstedler.
Participants will learn about common challenges and discrimination faced by trans and gender variant people in healthcare institutions and the impacts of these barriers to care. Participants will then deepen their understanding of gender diversity as well as explore common spiritual and emotional needs of trans and gender variant people in healthcare settings. Participants will learn best practices around three common challenges when serving trans and gender variant and have an opportunity to practice different ways of navigating these challenges.
Program Objectives
By the end of this webinar, participants will:- Gain a basic understanding of transgender identities
- Gain an understanding of barriers to care that transgender and gender variant people face in healthcare institutions and ways that Chaplains and Spiritual Care providers can play a key role in navigating these barriers.
- Leave with practice navigating common challenges that non-trans people face when serving trans and gender variant patients.
To register online and pay by credit card for this webinar, or for any other NACC 2019 regular series webinar, please visit the registration page by clicking on this LINK. NACC Student members wishing to register online should use the following special link: STUDENTS. If you prefer to register using a paper registration form and pay by check, a downloadable registration form can be accessed at this LINK. Information about our 2019 webinars can be found at the following link: 2019 webinars.17. Member Request: How many of our acute hospitals use: NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Monthly Stoplight Report and NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Quarterly Stoplight Report?
Our NACC member, John Kalinowski BCC, Vice President Mission Integration, CHS-Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, seeks to learn how many of our acute hospitals are using NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Monthly Stoplight Report and NCR Catalyst – Inpatient + HCAHPS Quarterly Stoplight Report, “Was religious/spiritual support available when you needed it?” It seems that among the several questions that NCR offers for Spiritual Care this is the one that has been in use for many years. John seeks to learn if this or other questions might be used nationally. Please contact John (jkalinowski@chsbuffalo.org) to let him know what you use. For those who replied to John, the NACC can also provide the participants the information received. Thank you in advance!18. A new resource book for mental health, A Spiritual Path from Darkness to Hope: Devotions for Your Time in Psychiatric Care
From our NACC member Deborah Forstner, BCC, “I minister on the psychiatric unit of a hospital as chaplain. This particular ministry has been an interest area of mine for many years, for both professional and personal reasons. People hospitalized in the unit where I work often have requested spiritual reading materials. Because so many admitted to a hospital due to mental health needs have made suicide attempts or are experiencing strong suicidal ideation, I wanted the devotional to be direct in addressing this and similar concerns. As a result, I wrote this book for 7-days of devotions, with a prayer to say at the time of and after discharge. Besides chaplains, this resource is something pastors could print and bring along when visiting a congregation member in the hospital. Another possibility would be using pages from this book in one-on-one pastoral care work by clergy, Christian therapists, or others. Finally, small group facilitators in a community program for those struggling with mental illness could use the devotional as a basis for a seven-session small group.” You can access a pdf of this resource at the Mental Health Ministries website: http://www.mentalhealthministries.net/resources/books/DevotionBookPsychiatricCare-DForstner.pdf19. Another new resource on the afterlife for end-of-life care!
We find ourselves at times grappling with care seekers on questions of “What’s next?” In this new publication, Life Beyond Death – A Traveler’s Guide for Christians, by Thomas F. O’Meara, OP, he creatively and clearly explores the Catholic Church’s tradition of God’s promise of eternal life. In addition to drawing on Scripture and the writings of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and renowned contemporary thinkers, the book incorporates examples from art, literature, and music to illustrate how the Catholic imagination has interpreted and visualized our doctrinal tradition on our journey to the next life. The new publication is part of CHA’s popular collection of end-of-life guides to help patients, families, physicians, clinicians, pastoral care providers, ethicists, and caregivers who deal with decisions about serious illness or death. It is also an ideal reference for professors and graduate students in theology and bioethics. You can access it at:
https://www.chausa.org/store/products/product?id=393520. A free webinar by the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care
Measuring Up! New Palliative Care Measures Project, www.nationalcoalitionhpc.org/macra-webinar June 26, 2019, 11-12:30 pm ET. Join the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care and RAND Health for a complimentary webinar to learn about and discuss an innovative palliative care quality measures project that is engaging patients and caregivers throughout the measure development cycle. Learn more and register here.21. NACC Local Events
• Buffalo, MN
The 2019 Fall Chaplains’ Conference will take place on September 12-13 at the Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota. Rev. Michele Guest Lowery will be the guest speaker, presenting on the subject of “Coming Down from the Ledge: Insights and Applications from Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Changing Self-Destructive Behaviors.” We are expecting a high turnout for this event, so room-sharing opportunities are offered. For full details of the program, please visit the following page on our website: https://www.nacc.org/event/2019-fall-chaplains-conference/. To register online and pay by credit card, please click on this LINK.Rev. Michele Guest Lowery is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a board certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). She has almost 20 years of experience in behavioral health chaplaincy as both a direct care provider and program manager. Rev. Lowery currently serves as Spiritual Care Manager at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. She has presented several workshops and webinars on various behavioral health topics and has published numerous articles on ministry to those living with a mental illness, most recently “Behavioral Health Basics for Chaplains” in Health Progress. Rev. Lowery has the distinction of being the first (perhaps the only) chaplain to complete Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training with Behavioral Tech, a Marsha Linehan Institute Training Company (Linehan is the founder of DBT).
22. Healing Tree: a request for prayers
Please let us know if you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing. We will leave the person’s name on the Healing Tree list for three months unless you ask us to remove your or the person’s name earlier. You can always request us to leave the name on longer.We continue to pray for: Art Schute, Sr. Louise Zaplitny, Susan Crowley (for her husband Brian), Linda F. Piotrowski, BCC (on the death of her husband, Richard), Sr. Mary Ann DuPlain and her family (for her brother Larry), Debra (Debbie) Shea and her family (for healing after the death of her husband Danny), Ms. Pauline T. Lavelle, BCC, (for healing after the death of her husband), Jensen and Emory (grandchildren of member Carol Bamesberger), Jennifer Luse, Sr. Theresa Chiappa, SSC, Nolan (3-year-old grandson of member Dale Recinella), Sr. Mary Clare Boland, SP, Fr. Jim Radde, SJ, Julie Bablin, Sheila Amrich (niece-in-law of NACC member Sr. Paracleta Amrich), Isabelita Boquiren, Susan Balling, Jim and Frances Castello.
23. Recent job postings
The following positions have been posted recently
on our Positions Available page.ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
Portland, OR – Providence Portland Medical CenterCHAPLAIN
Aberdeen, South Dakota – Avera St. Luke’s HospitalDIRECTOR, SPIRITUAL CARE
Hershey, PA – Penn State Health St. JosephMANAGER of PASTORAL CARE
Beaumont, TX – CHRISTUS Southeast Texas Health SystemFT CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN OR CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN ASSOCIATE
Canton, OH – Mercy Medical CenterVP MISSION INTEGRATION
Atlanta, GA – Emory HealthcareROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST CHAPLAIN
San Francisco, CA – California Pacific Medical Center
